Haitian native returns to home in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Roosevelt Richard's wife waited anxiously as he came into view at Salt Lake City International Airport Saturday, home after a nearly two-week relief trip to Haiti.

Richard, who moved to Vernal from Haiti two years ago, returned to his native country on Jan. 18, less than one week after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck the island nation.

Richard worked in the Foyer de Sion orphanage in Haiti for seven years before moving to the U.S., assisting families in the adoption process and translating documents into English. During the past two weeks, Richard assisted with translations to aid volunteers and help relief efforts.

"It's a big devastation," Richard said. "It's going to take a lot of time, money and efforts to rebuild."

Richard, who was welcomed home by Erin, his wife of five months, and his in-laws, arrived in Salt Lake City with Jason Taylor, an employee of the Utah Hospital Task Force, who organized the trip.

Taylor said he went to Haiti to perform immediate triage, and he plans to return every two to three weeks from here on out. He has a waiting list of more than 900 people waiting to volunteer in Haiti, and he said he hopes to continually refresh the medical teams there as long as needed.

"The minute we stepped off the plane here, we were ready to go back," Taylor said.

Now that he has seen the operations in Haiti for himself, he is much more confident in sending other doctors, nurses and volunteers.

"It was more of a SWAT team," Taylor said of his group's entry into Haiti. "We felt like we were walking into a war zone, and then we were overwhelmed by the love."

e-mail: ejames@desnews.com